Tragic

Completed game: Halo Reach (original 1000 - still need to do Noble achievements).
Last achievement earned: Make It Rain (legit).





So I woke up this morning at 5am, feeling as rough as a dog and I've been feeling unwell all day. I wondered whether my marathon 6 hour session on The Club (which lasted into the early morning) had anything to do with it. Been feeling so tired lately and it's often tough to build up motivation but it did get me thinking: how much does forcing yourself through a long gaming session physically take out of you; and what's the damage long term?

Before online play came along, I would often spend ages hunting for every last collectable, but I didn't see this as a chore - I did it because I've always been a completionist. Collecting 5000 lums in Rayman or every toy collectable from Shenmue were fun; achieveing all the platinum medals in PGR3 - challenging and skill-building; and finding every diary in Bioshock made the whole experience so much richer.

Now, if I want to complete a game (especially shooters), I'm forced into doing something terribly monotonous and boring, and I'm beginning to think more carefully about the games I start for this very reason. Of course, developers would say,"You're not playing the game as intended. You're supposed to play our game for 5 years until you get all your 10,001 kills legit!"

Mmmmmm. So I'm supposed to love your game so much that I play it EVERY night, waiting around in empty lobbies? Don't think so, and I'm sure most of the gaming community would agree.

I prefer a gaming diet which is rich in variety and entertains me - why else would we play? Don't get me wrong, The Club is a great game but why spoil it trying to '1-up' Epic? Shooting someone in the face for 2 hours at a time is not fun and is certainly not condusive to an enjoyable experience. When you're fighting tiredness, hunger and overwhelming fatigue just to get to the 'next 1000' it can't possibly be good for you, can it?

Which brings me finally to the poor chap who died in Japan recently. According to reports, he played for 3 days solid, without food or rest and sadly died because of his passion for gaming. Of course addiction of this kind is extreme, but it helps put everything into perpective and reminds me that there are other important things in life.

Will I carry on with The Club? I'm on 8000 kills so I'd be a fool not to. Firefighting my way to Lt Col in Halo: Reach tested my patience, but I got there in the end. I will, however, be looking very carefully at the achievements for Gears 3 before thinking about starting it - I don't think I could cope with another 'waste a month (+) of your life' kill achievement.

A long time coming . . .

So, I've decided to resurrect my blog after abandoning it. Can't disappoint my one follower can I?
Anyway, I may soon need to vent my spleen at the mountain of an achievement looming on the horizon: The Club's 'No Seriously' (40GS). Apparently, It's going to be a fairly straight forward road of boosting 250 ish kills per hour - so that's 40 hours then, for 40GS: Fan-frikkin-tastic. After the torture that was Seriously on Gears of War, I'm just hoping it'll unlock as it should (anyone who's gone for this will know what I'm talking about!). The fact that there's no in game counter worries me so I'll be using a good old-fashioned tally chart then.
Finding a reliable boosting buddy is always so important so I'm glad I've got Richx360a on board.
At the moment, gamerscore is moving very slowly. Grinding up to Lt Colonel has been a chore and has eaten up loads of time recently but I'm nearly there now (65k exp to go as an estimate I think).
Other games I'm hoping to complete in the next 6 months include:

Kinect Adventures (if I can wrestle my console from the kids!)
Transformers WFC (another long winded boosting affair)
Limbo
Iron Man
Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard

What an awesome list! I truly do fear for my sanity.

Too much to do, too little time...

Been a mixed week on the gamerscore front. On the + side, another completed game: Halo 3. Started way back in April 2008 so it's taken around two and a half years. Another one done and dusted though (apart from a few DLC achievements) and I couldn't have got there without Rich x360a's help on the Meta-game missions and jackanape and danteraines commitment to getting to level 50 online.

Still ploughing through NFS Shift, still not liking it - but I aim to get it completed by the end of the month (it's not my highest priority as I'd rather stick nails in my eyes).

Started two new games: Toy Story 3 and Split/Second. I'm under strict instructions from my son that I'm not allowed to play TS without him so it may take some time. Split/Second is cool so far although I'm only 2/12 through the career at present.

Completion % has unfortunately dropped to fractionally above 95% but I'm not too concerned. It's actually been quite nice lately starting a few games at the same time: they do say variety is the spice of life (although my wife would probably disagree).

Tonight? Going back to Left 4 Dead to kill some zombie scum on the DLC.

Completion is a disease...

Continued on with NFS Shift last night even though I hate the bloody game. What's wrong with me? Why do I feel the need to complete every game I start?

Anyway, I began at 10pm and managed to unlock one achievement worth an amazing 5GS. I was 2 races away from unlocking the final section and I fell asleep - that's how much interest this game holds. I played Blur for 50+hours and not once did I even yawn. I put in countless hours on PGR 3 & 4, DiRT, Pure, NFS Most Wanted, NFS Undercover - even 'kiddies' racers such as Sonic/Sega Racing and Madagascar Kartz; and ALL are more entertaining than this drivel. The only game that compares is Baja: Edge of Control - which is the most sleep inducing game to get 1000GS in on the planet.

Will continue to persevere tonight because of my 'illness' but I pray this punishment will be over sooner rather than later.

I hate starting a boring game...

The other night I started NFS: Shift and boy do I regret it. Normally I'd stay away from 'sim' type racers but the gamerscore hunter in me couldn't resist. "You'll blast through that in no time!" most of my friends comment. What nobody told me was how bloody mind-numbingly boring it is to play. The game has no character, no soul; and I'm hating it already. Perhaps playing Blur recently has skewed my judgement somewhat because I thought it was amazing and highly underrated...

So... decision time. Do I leave NFS Shift and come back at a later date, or do I persevere? Do I let my completion % drop further by beginning yet another new game? Split/Second: I hear you calling my name...

Cleaning Up

According to True Achievements, my completion currently stands at the heady heights of 95.74%. It was 96% until I started playing NFS Shift. On the plus side, two more completions in the last 24 hours:

Gears of War 2 (1750)
Lips (1000)

I never thought in a million years that I'd get Gears 2 done and have many people to thank who helped me out along the way: danteraines452, jackanape, Mechahertz and Rich x360a; and many others who contributed towards the long slog to level 100. Talking of slogs, getting 100,000 kills was such a pointless, time-wasting and soul destroying achievement. When will developers stop putting in brainless achievements and be a little more imaginative? I will be thinking very carefully before beginning Gears 3 as the first 2 have taken up most of my gamertime over the last six months - there are so many other games to play.

On Lips, I must thank my 6 year old son. He is the main reason I keep on with this game, and I'll never tire of singing co-op Maroon 5 tracks with him and seeing his face light up when he gets all 6 medals on a track - I couldn't hope for a more awesome boosting partner! I still have a couple of the DLC achievements to do: 150,000 and 200,000 total stars (gulp!), but I'm sure I'll get there some time before the end of the year.

Completed games so far . . .

My first post on my first ever blog. Where to start? How about some stats:

Completed games as of today:
TMNT (1000)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour '07 (1000)
Galaga (200)
Uno (200)
Bioshock (1000)
Fusion Frenzy 2 (1000)
Flatout U.C (1000)
FIFA 06 RTFWC (1000)
NBA 2K6 (1000)
NHL 2K6 (1000)
EA Sports Fight Night 3 (1000)
Lego Star Wars 2 (1000)
Cars (1000)
PGR 3 (1000)
Surf's Up (1000)
Carcassonne (200)
Open Season (1000)
F4: ROTSS (1000)
CSI Hard-Evidence (1000)
Spider-Man : FOF (1000)
Meet The Robinsons (1000)
Harry Potter OOTP (1000)
Shrek the Third (1000)
PAC-MAN (200)
Madden NFL 08 (1000)
Scene It? LCA (1000)
DiRT (1000)
At World's End (1000)
Cars: Mater National (1000)
Avatar: TLA: TBE (1000)
Madden NFL 06 (1000)
Eragon (1000)
Lost Via Domus (1000)
NBA 2K7 (1000)
Speedball 2 (200)
NBA STREET Homecourt (1000)
The Simpsons (1000)
NBA Live 08 (1000)
Viva Pinata: Party Animals (1000)
Clive Barker's Jericho (1000)
Jumper (1000)
FIFA Street 3 (1250)
Sonic The Hedgehog (200)
NFL Tour (1000)
Spiderwick Chronicles (1000)
Beowolf (1000)
Lego Indiana Jones (1000)
Loony Tunes:AA (1000)
Lego Star Wars: TCS
NHL 07 (1000)
Alone In The Dark (1000)
WALL *E (1000)
Monster Jam (1000)
Kung Fu Panda (1000)
Hot Wheels: Beat That! (1000)
Soulcalibur IV (1000)
Prince Caspian (1000)
Madden NFL 09 (1000)
The Bourne Conspiracy (1000)
Space Chimps (1000)
Cabela's Safari (1000)
Bully Scholarship Edition (1000)
Tomb Raider: Legend (1000)
Bionicle Heroes (1000)
Blazing Angels (1000)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (1000)
Need For Speed: Most Wanted (1000)
Lego Batman (1000)
Cabela's Trophy Bucks (1000)
Monopoly (1000)
Dash of Destruction (1000)
Buku Sodoku (200)
Tomb Raider Underworld (1000)
New Rally X (200)
X-Men: The Official Game (1000)
Condemned: (970)
Spidey: Web of Shadows (1000)
My Horse & Me 2 (1000)
Dead Space (1000)
Golden Compass (1000)
NFS Undercover (1000)
Sega Megadrive UC (1000)
Asterix Olympic Games (1000)
TMNT 1989 Arcade (200)
3 on 3 NHL Arcade (200)
Baja 1000 (1000)
Rapala Fishing Frenzy (1000)
Disney Bolt (1000)
Shellshock 2 (1000)
WWE Legends (1000)
50 Cent: BOTS (1000)
BAJA: Edge of Control (1000)
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (200)
MS. PAC-MAN (200)
Trivial Pursuit (1000)
X-Blades (1000)
Altered Beast (200)
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (200)
SEGA Superstars Tennis (1000)
Gunstar Heroes (200)
Shinobi (200)
Comix Zone (200)
Hannah The Movie (1000)
UNO RUSH (200)
Night At The Museum 2 (1000)
Terminator Salvation (1000)
Dangerous Hunts 2009 (1000)
Pure (1000)
Left 4 Dead (1000)
Ice Age 3 (1000)
Crash Time (1000)
Harry Potter HBP (1000)
Madden NFL 10 (1000)
Gun (1000)
Scene It? BOS! (1250)
Track & Field (200)
You're In The Movies (1000)
PUZZLE BOBBLE Live! (200)
DiRT 2 (1000)
3D Ultra Minigolf (200)
Silent Hill Homecoming (1000)
Golden Axe (200)
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (1000)
TEKKEN 6 (1000)
SpongeBob: Truth or Square (1000)
Saw (1000)
Smackdown vs RAW 2008 (1000)
Where The Wild Things Are (1000)
SOULCALIBUR (200)
Disney-Pixar UP (1000)
Smackdown vs RAW 2009 (1000)
Madagascar Kartz (1000)
MINI NINJAS (1000)
PAC-MAN C.E (200)
NBA LIVE 07 (1000)
Gauntlet (200)
Dante's Inferno (1000)
Bioshock 2 (1000)
Darksiders (1000)
Lego Indiana Jones 2 (1000)
Ben 10: Vilgax Attacks (1000)
Sherlock Holmes (1000)
Sonic & SEGA Racing (1000)
Wallace & Gromit # 1 (200)
Gears of War (1250)
Resident Evil 5 (1400)
2006 FIFA World Cup (1000)
Fallout 3 (1550)
Left 4 Dead 2 (1250)
Blur (1000)